Editorial: Does Pennsylvania have a real-life 'Groundhog Day' problem?

In “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 Bill Murray movie, the holiday centered around a prognosticating Punxsutawney Phil is not the point. They are just the kick-off for the story about a weatherman trapped in the same 24 hours with the same events happening over and over again.

There was never an explanation for why Murray’s character fell into this loop. He just woke up on Groundhog Day to Sonny and Cher playing on the radio in a place he didn’t want to be while events conspire to keep him there. Eventually, true love gives us a Hollywood happy ending.

It’s fun. It’s funny. It’s also impossible — or is it?

Oh, sure, it’s unlikely that a WPXI meteorologist would be caught in what has become a film and television trope about days that never end.

But Pennsylvania does seem caught in a loop when it comes to issues that pop up over and over, like “I Got You Babe” on Murray’s radio.

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh officials announced the closing of Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge over safety concerns. That comes barely a month after the opening of the new Fern Hollow Bridge — replaced after its predecessor’s dramatic collapse in January 2022. The Charles Anderson bridge is rated poor. So was Fern Hollow. At least a lesson was learned, with the closing coming before the catastrophe this time.

In West Deer, a free Narcan training clinic was offered Sunday through the Palmer Pharmacy. The Allegheny County Health Department provided the doses of medication free for participants looking to be prepared for overdoses in a state and a region that continues to be hit hard by the opioid epidemic.

The state has been on a treadmill for years with the issue of property taxes as the main funding for education. It’s a system that doesn’t work, everyone agrees. Yet it doesn’t change.

This was evidenced yet again with the North Allegheny School District being called on the carpet by Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor. It is one of 12 districts audited and shown to skirt rules put in place to limit over-index tax increases by strategic categorization of funds. It isn’t illegal, the audit said — but it also isn’t right.

And the 2023 elections are on the horizon — from the special elections for state House seats in Allegheny County to the county and municipal positions that will be on the ballot. If anything proves that “Groundhog Day” might have had some basis in reality, it’s the never-ending replay of Pennsylvania elections in recent years.

The unfortunate difference between fiction and nonfiction is that Murray’s character was the only thing that wasn’t held in place. He learned, he grew and he changed — and that was what eventually moved things along.

Maybe proactive steps like closing that bridge before it collapses can be that kind of cycle-breaking action in Pennsylvania. But more of that outside-the-loop thinking is going to be needed to break us out of our real-life “Groundhog Day.”